Chiefs’ lesson for Jaguars: Having swagger not enough
Until further notice, maybe the Jaguars should dial down all that talk about being the AFC favorite to reach the Super Bowl.
That’s not to suggest defensive stalwarts like Tashaun Gipson, Jalen Ramsey and Calais Campbell should put all their swagger in cold storage for the next three months, but it might be time to ease off a bit considering that the Kansas City Chiefs delivered one whopper of a reality check on Sunday.
What transpired at Arrowhead Stadium in the 30-14 setback to the Chiefs was an all-around disaster. Who kidnapped the 2018 Jaguars and replaced them with something that looked straight out of the Gus Bradley early years?
Jacksonville’s No. 1-ranked defense may have made the NFL’s hot young quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, look ordinary at times by coming up with two interceptions from Gipson and UCF alum A.J. Bouye, but Todd Wash’s unit sure didn’t get any stops when it really mattered.
Linebacker Telvin Smith, who had a game-high 13 tackles and a terrible coverage sequence on KC’s opening-TD drive, insists the Jaguars will be as unrelenting as ever about being an NFL alpha-dog.
“We ain’t stepping off of it,” the former Seminoles star said. “We’re still 10 toes down. It’s just adversity. Again, I really feel like this game brought this team even closer together, even pushed us further in the direction that we want to go.”
The only direction they went in Kansas City was several steps backward. As encouraged as the Jaguars’ fan base felt after that Week 2 conquest of the New England Patriots, the all-tooeasy win by Kansas City felt like a bigger letdown than losing to the hated Tennessee Titans.
At least in the 9-6 defeat to Tennessee, the Jaguars could take solace in having played the Titans right down to the wire. That was a winnable game, one play away from flipping the result. This one was firmly in the Chiefs’ grasp almost from the start.
Most alarming of all, Blake Bortles took a step back in time. The erstwhile Oviedo High and UCF star reverted to that mess of a quarterback from his first three years (2014-16), the guy who couldn’t stop throwing interceptions and then put up garbage-time numbers as window dressing. Not many QBs outside of Tom Brady, Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers win football games by having career-highs of 61 pass attempts and 401 yards passing.
Granted, it didn’t make life any easier for Bortles (sacked five times) that right tackle Jermey Parnell had one of the worst passprotection games any offensive lineman could put on tape. Parnell was often overwhelmed by speed rusher Dee Ford, who forced the day’s only fumble on a strip-sack and repeatedly pressured Bortles by running right by No. 78.
But that doesn’t excuse Bortles, who had a careerhigh four interceptions, from two ghastly picks in the final two minutes of the first half that really defined a horrific day. It also removed any doubt about the outcome.
Hoping to cut into a 13-0 deficit, right after Ford’s strip-sack led to a K.C. field goal, Bortles tried a seemingly safe middle screen to running back T.J. Yeldon. There was just one problem. He never saw Chris Jones. The Chiefs’ 310-pound tackle cradled the easy interception, rambling 25 yards for a touchdown with 1:49 left in the second quarter.
Moments later, it appeared Bortles might get some points back when he marched the Jaguars 83 yards to the K.C. 3. Then the unthinkable happened. The quarterback who didn’t have a red-zone pick all last year threw a pass that bounced off guard A.J. Cann’s helmet and into the end zone, where cornerback Steven Nelson made the diving interception.
“It felt like we waited until we were down and in a bad place until we decided we wanted to play and that can’t happen,” Bortles said. “We have to start from the beginning at the first snap, playing as hard as we can play to do everything we can to be successful and score points.”
On a day where just about everything outside of a successful Josh Lambo onside kick went wrong, the Jaguars’ whole operation just looked disjointed. And it went well beyond Bortles and his 54.7 quarterback rating.
The defense that was dominant for long stretches against the Patriots and both New York franchises, as coach Doug Marrone pointed out, gave up too many big plays early on. And though Yeldon played admirably in Leonard Fournette’s absence, the running game never got a chance to find a rhythm or take advantage of K.C.’s shaky defense. Not with Bortles throwing the Jaguars into desperation mode by the end of the first half.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say a wake-up call because we knew there was a lot to clean up from the jump,” Campbell said. “We’re not where we want to be by any means. But are we a good team? Without a doubt. Do I have faith this team can win a Super Bowl? Without a doubt.
“After a loss, that doesn’t change the goal. We’ve just got to bounce back. We’ll be just fine.”
The good news is the Jaguars are still tied for first place in the AFC South with Tennessee, which lost 13-12 to the Buffalo Bills on a last-second field goal. One awful day doesn’t mean the Jaguars can’t get to their ultimate NFL destination.
But this was a statement game, a chance to show a CBS national audience that the Jaguars should be considered the favorite to win what is generally regarded as a wide-open AFC race, the Chiefs’ unbeaten record notwithstanding.
Instead, the Jaguars and an inconsistent Bortles resurrected some old doubts about this franchise. It’s OK to have swagger, but the results have to back it up.